One-Hand Operated and Automatic Tourniquet

On the battlefield, a properly applied tourniquet can be an extremely effective means of controlling severe extremity wound hemorrhage. However, a great deal of confusion exists among soldiers, medics, and military medical officers on a number of tourniquet-related issues. What is an appropriate combat tourniquet When is it appropriate to use a tourniquet When and by whom should a tourniquet be removed Under what conditions should a tourniquet not be released or removed What are the most effective ways to increase limb salvage while using a tourniquet  

The technical definition of a tourniquet is any device that is used to prevent blood from flowing through blood vessels below the placement of the tourniquet on either upper or lower limbs. A tourniquet prevents excessive loss of blood from a limb wound with the expectation of saving a life. On the battlefield, the tourniquet in one form or another has been used to control excessive hemorrhaging on nonvital extremities since the Roman Empire days, where a rope or cloth strap was used for toumiqueting a soldier s limb that has suffered a wound. The use of tourniquets has always been as controversial as it has been successful. This controversy results, as will be described later, as much from mistakes made in the application and release of the tourniquet as it does from the primitive design of the most commonly used tourniquets of today. 

Biocompatible Polymeric Materials and Tourniquets for Wounds, 117 

Because of the fear of tourniquet-related limb damage, tourniquets are almost never used in civilian trauma cases and have been discouraged since World War II by many militaries due to the amputations suffered by soldiers when tourniquets were left on too long or over tightened. This practice was kept in place even though many if not most trauma specialists believed that if properly used, tourniquets saved lives. It was not until modem battlefield casualty studies were made that the need for tourniquets was reevaluated. 

Studies of battlefield trauma and death in Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan showed two major changes in battlefield casualties that changed the 

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